StarCraft II version history/Patch 3.4.0

Contents

The StarCraft II Ladder Revamp has arrived. Read on for a list of highlights!

Your matchmaking rating (MMR) is now displayed in various screens throughout the StarCraft II user interface.

A new Ladder tab has been added to the Score Screen that displays both you and your opponent's matchmaking rating (MMR), as well as the changes in rating from the outcome of that ranked match.

A progress bar is also displayed on the Ladder tab that shows your progress towards promotion.

In addition to the new Ladder tab, MMR is also displayed on the Division screen in Profile > Ladders > Current Season > Legacy of the Void.

New League Tiers have been added.

Leagues are now divided into three tiers: Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3, with Tier 1 being the highest and Tier 3 being the lowest.

Your tier represents how you rank relative to other players within that league. For example, a player in Silver Tier 1 is closer to a promotion into the next league (Gold) than a player in Silver Tier 3.

The visual look and feel of the ladder system has been refreshed.

A new promotion screen with 3D fanfare has been added.

League badges and league portrait borders have been updated to display your current tier.

League badges and league portrait borders have new colors and animations to make them more visually distinct.

4 new animated banners have been added to represent your standing within your division.

The mechanics of Grandmaster have been significantly overhauled.

Promotions and demotions in GM now happen daily at a scheduled time:

At 5:00 PM server time, the bottom 5% of GM players will be removed.

Players who are eligible for GM will be in the new Contender ladder.

Anyone logged into StarCraft II can view the players present in Contender ladder to follow along with who might be promoted. Navigate there via Profile > Ladders > Grandmaster > 1v1 Contender or Archon Contender.

At 8:00 PM server time, the top players of the Contender ladder will be promoted based on their MMR and activity eligibility for GM.

In order to emphasize the accuracy of GM, players are ranked based on MMR instead of division points. Bonus pool has also been removed.

Players who have not played a minimum of 10 games every 3 weeks will be automatically removed from GM.

GM will open one week after a new season begins.

Additional changes:

The new target league distribution breakdown is:

Master: 4%

Diamond: 23%

Platinum: 23%

Gold: 23%

Silver: 23%

Bronze: 4%

Improvements have been made to the estimated rankings of new and returning players. In the Score Screen's new Ladder tab, this is described in the tooltip as “Provisional MMR”.

Bonus pool accrual rates have been tuned for team matchmaking modes to make them more competitive:

1v1: no change

Random Team: 50% reduction

Arranged Team: 75% reduction

Archon Mode: 75% reduction

For more information on the StarCraft II Ladder Revamp, see the following:

Developer Comments: Bunkers are not getting a lot of use. They have some upgrades available but they don't help in the early game and have questionable value in terms of cost and time investment later on. Instead of unlocking research at level 7, Raynor will now be able to build upgraded Bunkers at level 7. The life bonus has also been increased slightly.

Replaced Level 10 Double M.U.L.E. upgrade with a new upgrade:

Armor upgrades in the Armory and Engineering Bay increase life in addition to increasing armor.

Infantry Armor Level 1-3 gives +10% of base health at each level.

Vehicle Plating Level 1-3 gives +10% of base health at each level.

Developer Comments: The double M.U.L.E. upgrade is currently encouraging a mass Orbital Command strategy which allows Raynor to make an endless stream of only Marines. Players not employing this strategy gain a fairly minor power increase. We decided to replace this upgrade with a powerful combat upgrade instead which should help Raynor against area damage and increase his overall survivability. This upgrade also effects all unit types including mechanical, so it should also help to make Factory and Starport units viable, rather than just allowing Raynor to simply make more Marines.

Level 15 unlocks:

All combat units including mechanical units gain 15% attack speed.

Developer Comments: We also want to change this upgrade to affect all units including mechanical, again to open up Raynor's strategic options. While Raynor's core strength is his biological army, it was important to us not to discourage the use of the other units. We want to supplement his army with the right tools depending on the situation, and we were sending the wrong message by having this upgrade affect only his Barracks units.

Tooltips were updated for clarification:

"Reduces the cooldown of the Hyperion ability. Does not affect initial cooldown at the start of the mission."

"Reduces the cooldown of the Banshee Airstrike ability. Does not affect initial cooldown at the start of the mission."